The Celestine monks of France represent one of the most unheralded but influential monastic reform movements of the later Middle Ages. This book argues their importance as a mirror of the political, intellectual, and Christian reform culture of their age.

Shaw Robert L.J. :

Robert L. J. Shaw is a former Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (2016-17). He has a D.Phil in History from the University of Oxford (Oriel College).

"This is a concise monograph on the development in the French territories of the late medieval Benedictine reform congregation known as the Celestines. [...] The great merit of this study is the way it weaves the French Celestine experience into the tapestry of the French religious and political world."
- Bert Roest, Radboud University Nijmegen, Speculum 96/3 (July 2021)

"This book is an important contribution to the study of Observant reform, especially as a case study that cogently highlights the diversity that characterized reform’s many inflections. [...] Thanks to Shaw’s book, [the] influence [of the French Celestines] is more visible and accessible than before, as is the challenge of recovering religious life’s many neglected late-medieval stories."
- James D. Mixson, H-France Review, Vol. 19 (2019)

"With his book, Robert Shaw has tackled a significant research gap that he has begun to fill with many more far-reaching results, putting research on the Celestines on a completely new footing."
- Robert Friedrich, H-Soz-Kult, July 2019 (Translated from German)